“Being always on a diet, I was involved with another weight loss gimmick and scheduled to do a home presentation the following month. This hamburger was going to be an object lesson about live enzymes. At the little meeting, I showed the hamburger and the pickle, which was just starting to disintegrate. There was no decomposition to the meat or bun, nor any mold, fungus or smell. It had no bad odor at all,” Whipple said in a recent blog post.

He put the hamburger, in the original sack with the receipt, spent the summer in the pocket of a jacket in Whipple’s car. After the jacket was moved to a closet in the house, another year passed before the burger was discovered.

“The hamburger has never been in a refrigerator during its 13 year life. Now it just sits on a shelf,” Whipple said.

Whipple said he will keep the burger to encourage his grandchildren to eat healthy.